You can't beat the game as Summoner

[Isiforo.s]

I've somehow (with a lot of effort) managed to progress until Plantera which I haven't defeated yet and I honestly gave up the idea of trying any further at this point. In my playthrough I just used Summoner gear and also weapons. The biggest downside with Summoner is its stats. Having bonus Summon is nice but useless if you lack in defence too much. Pumping yourself up with potions and other things is a must have but even then it's pretty damn hard. I had to cheese with wiring traps/shortcuts against bosses most of the time which did work but it wasn't fun.

Maybe others had a much better experience than me. My conclusion is this class is useless...

[Sovietball]

Nah, you can.

[Noel]

Originally posted by Sovietball:

Nah, you can.

Haven't gotten to where he is but if you could beat the game as summoner before, you probably can again. He's not wrong that It's the worst class though lel

[TheFrozenBlaze]

It’s entirely possible, but it’s harder than the other classes, it’s very reliant on dodging abilities. Summoner isn’t melee who can tank everything, but has to be much more careful

[Shurenai]

You absolutely can. Summoner is my favorite class and I've beaten through to Moonlord multiple times on expert. Being a summoner frees you to spend all/most of your time dodging- You dont need to aim, you dont need to get close to swing, you just run away and dodge while your minions kill things for you. Yes, You lack defenses- So you need to dodge even better. Master not getting hit, and the boss WILL die to your minions.

Taking advantage of useful accessories helps- Worm scarf lowers your damage taken by 17% for example. Plus you can essentially put Warding on all your accessories as most of the other benefits have little use, the only exception being Menacing- And that ONLY matters at the time of summoning the minion, so you can have two sets, one with menacing, one with warding, and just use the menacing set to summon your minions before switching.

[Duchess Minty]

Originally posted by Shurenai:

And that ONLY matters at the time of summoning the minion, so you can have two sets, one with menacing, one with warding, and just use the menacing set to summon your minions before switching.

Pretty sure they changed that with 1.4

[Noel]

Originally posted by Shurenai:

You absolutely can. Summoner is my favorite class and I've beaten through to Moonlord multiple times on expert. Being a summoner frees you to spend all/most of your time dodging- You dont need to aim, you dont need to get close to swing, you just run away and dodge while your minions kill things for you. Yes, You lack defenses- So you need to dodge even better. Master not getting hit, and the boss WILL die to your minions.

I mean there's also whips which are decent, haven't tested most hm whips tho

[Shurenai]

Originally posted by Magguss:

Originally posted by Shurenai:

You absolutely can. Summoner is my favorite class and I've beaten through to Moonlord multiple times on expert. Being a summoner frees you to spend all/most of your time dodging- You dont need to aim, you dont need to get close to swing, you just run away and dodge while your minions kill things for you. Yes, You lack defenses- So you need to dodge even better. Master not getting hit, and the boss WILL die to your minions.

I mean there's also whips which are decent, haven't tested most hm whips tho

Still dont really need to aim though, just wave it in the vague direction of the boss- Once the tag is on them, resume dodging like a maniac.

Originally posted by Lady Mint:

Originally posted by Shurenai:

And that ONLY matters at the time of summoning the minion, so you can have two sets, one with menacing, one with warding, and just use the menacing set to summon your minions before switching.

Pretty sure they changed that with 1.4

Hum, that may be? I hadnt noticed if so.....But then My personal choice would just be to go full warding then and not worry about it. Surviving so your pets can deal damage > doing tons of damage and dying.

[Duchess Minty]

Originally posted by Shurenai:

Hum, that may be? I hadnt noticed if so.....But then My personal choice would just be to go full warding then and not worry about it. Surviving so your pets can deal damage > doing tons of damage and dying.

Yeah found it again in the summons section of the changelog

Summoned minions now adjust their damage dynamically based on your current equipment and damage buffs

But yeah I agree with you on just going warding if someone is worried about survival.

[HayleighWolfu]

Originally posted by Shurenai:

Originally posted by Magguss:

I mean there's also whips which are decent, haven't tested most hm whips tho

Still dont really need to aim though, just wave it in the vague direction of the boss- Once the tag is on them, resume dodging like a maniac.

You can set your minions on things more accurately with right click with a staff, the whip's main advantage is improving minion damage for a handful of seconds or other benefits as appropriate for the whip.

So you kinda want to get breath-smellingly close relatively consistently to increase your DPS if going pure Summoner.

[Shurenai]

Originally posted by HayleighWolfu:

Originally posted by Shurenai:

Still dont really need to aim though, just wave it in the vague direction of the boss- Once the tag is on them, resume dodging like a maniac.

You can set your minions on things more accurately with right click with a staff, the whip's main advantage is improving minion damage for a handful of seconds or other benefits as appropriate for the whip.

So you kinda want to get breath-smellingly close relatively consistently to increase your DPS if going pure Summoner.

Eh. I wouldn't bother going out of my way for it in a risky situation. It's a nice benefit if you can safely do it- But not worth trying to get close and stay close to maintain. As I already said.. Surviving so your pets can kill it is much better than dying. True of all classes, really. Take shots where you can safely do so.

And it's hit detection is pretty generous; So you still just have to vaguely wave it in a general direction, as compared to many bows, or various magic spells.

[HayleighWolfu]

Originally posted by Shurenai:

Originally posted by HayleighWolfu:

You can set your minions on things more accurately with right click with a staff, the whip's main advantage is improving minion damage for a handful of seconds or other benefits as appropriate for the whip.

So you kinda want to get breath-smellingly close relatively consistently to increase your DPS if going pure Summoner.

Eh. I wouldn't bother going out of my way for it in a risky situation. It's a nice benefit if you can safely do it- But not worth trying to get close and stay close to maintain. As I already said.. Surviving so your pets can kill it is much better than dying. True of all classes, really. Take shots where you can safely do so.

And it's hit detection is pretty generous; So you still just have to vaguely wave it in a general direction, as compared to many bows, or various magic spells.

I find bows and spells to let me attack from a safer distance in fights more so than the whip does. Though if I'm truly worried for my safety I just play safe and slap infrequently just for the damage boost.

[Isiforo.s]

Not sure if you guys have actually played a pure summoner (meaning only whip and summon etc.) if you are truly speaking from experience then respect... I couldn't manage it. I did always warding on my accessories btw.

[Syncrios]

Summoner is a side class you use summoning attachments and armor but you know you can still use a gun

[HayleighWolfu]

Originally posted by EmaNoval:

Not sure if you guys have actually played a pure summoner (meaning only whip and summon etc.) if you are truly speaking from experience then respect... I couldn't manage it. I did always warding on my accessories btw.

I generally play and played as pure summoner as I could manage, which was *mostly* before and currently has been *primarily*. A few times I've used things that aren't Summoner weapons (Primary one being pre-whip and with only the bird, that's not something I'm subjecting myself to for long periods).

Quick edit: Syncrios, no other class really has to go "I'll use X's weapons instead of my own because my own won't cut it." Other classes *can* grab summons and they're at no real loss to do so other than not being "Pure" on the class, but it's still plenty doable.